Flat opening book and method of making same



June 12, 1934. B ERCE 1,962,407

FLAT OPENING BOOK AND METHOD OF IIAKING SAME Filed July 30. 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 12, 1934. s. F. PIERCE 1,962,407

FLAT OPENING BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed July 30, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "mill"? June 12, 1934. cE 1,962,407

FLAT OPENING BOOK AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed July 30, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 a! Zan- /9 .ZAY

fieggjamzvflzerae w 1% M Patented .iune 12, 1934 AYES MAKIN G SAME Benjamin F. Pierce, East Providence, R. 1., as-

signcr to J. C. Hall Company, Providence, R. 1., a corporation of Rhode Island Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,297

6 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in books and the improved method of manufacturing the same. While my invention may be applied to any type of a book, it is particularly adapted for T use with check books having a stub portion and a detachable check portion and in which the stub portions of the previously used checks will remain flat so as to permit writing on the next adjacent stub and check portion. It is apparent,

Y however, that my invention is also applicable broadly to any type of a book which will remain flat at the point of opening thereof, thereby overcoming the weariness inherent in always holding a book open and enabling a book to be read or laid flat and particularly useful in the case of invalids.

My invention relates to the type of flat opening books having a socalled progressive hinge in which each page thereof has a hinge spaced from 'the fiat rear edge thereof with the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom towards the center of the book and my invention relates to such a book having a flat rear edge and a flat parallel front edge each sub stantially perpendicular to the plane of the pages.

While I am aware that others have made books employing progressive hinges, so far as I am aware each hinge has to be formed by individually creasing each individual page spaced progressive amounts from the top and bottom of the book to the center thereof, or if the desired hinge line be made by jogging the rear edge of the book inwardly to form the desired shaped hinge line preferably rounded or angular and cutting off the projecting top and bottom ends of the thus shaped rear edge line to form a flat rear edge. The front of the book then presents a pointed edge and if the leaves have been printed prior to jogging the printed matter is irregularly spaced thereon. Employing my invention, however, having a progressive hinge formed of pages creased equi-distantly from the rear edge thereof to form hinge lines, superimposed upon each other and with the pages relatively jogged or trimmed to form such a book, it is obvious that they may be printed after the book is formed and the printed matter will be evenly disposed relative to the flat outer edge of the pages and book, although of course, it will be obvious that if the pages be printed with printing matter of equal width that blank spacings will be formed from the rear edge of said printed matter to said hinge varying in length from the center of the book to the top and bottom thereof reversely in proportion to the amount that said hinge lines are respectively spaced from the flat rear edge thereof. It is thus apparent that I have provided a flat opening book which may be manufactured in quantity by creasing a stack of sheets along lines equi-distantly spaced from the rear edge of a book with a simply set folding machine or with a similar hand measurement then so shifting the sheets and trimming them that the book will have a flat rear edge and a flat front edge and that the stack of sheets so stacked may then be printed and that the printed matter will be spaced equi-distantly from the front edge thereof, thus providing a continuous even line for reading or writing purposes and the desirable features of a fiat front edge which is much more sightly than having a projection projecting forwardly from the front edge of the book and usually bowed towards the center thereof.

Further features of my invention relates to a novel method of manufacturing such a flat opening book by a simple matter of jogging and trimmmg.

A further feature of my invention relates to a novel type of tool for jogging the front edge of the book in accordance with the teachings of my improved method.

These and such other objects of my invention as may hereinafter appear will be best understood from a description of embodiments thereof such as are shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Fig. l is a perspective View of a completed check book constructed in accordance with my invention having a V-shaped socalled type of progressive hinge line.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an alternative form of book having a true arcuate or circular hinge line.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a jogging tool I preferably employ in constructing my invention.

Figs. 48 are end elevations of a stack of single sheets illustrating the steps necessary in forming my invention, Fig. 4 being a side elevation of a stack of sheets having a flat front edge and a flat rear edge, Fig. 5 being a side elevation showing the initial steps of abutting the front edge of said book with a V-shaped jogging edge, namely, the tool shown in Fig. 3 shaped reversely to the desired hinge line to relatively shift said sheets to form a projection on the rear edge of said book parallel to the recession formed on the front edge thereof and the second step of cutting off said projection to form a fiat edge in the rear of said book perpendicular to the plane of said leaves, Fig. 6 being a side elevation illustrating the step of creasing the pages equi-distantly from the then fiat rear edge thereof to form hinges therein each spaced equi-distantly on said sheets from the flat rear edge of said book, Fig. '7 being a side elevation illustrating the next step in the formation of my improved book namely, abutting the front edge of said book with a fiat jogging edge to form a flat edge on the front edge thereof to shift the leaves to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge thereof and the next step which consists in trimming said projections ofi along a line perpendicular to that of said pages and parallel to the then fiat front edge thereof and Fig. 8 being a side elevation of such a stack of pages, which may or may not be printed and provided with the scoring check lines with the initial step of attaching a cover thereto, namely, of providing it with cover attaching strips and stapling the rear ends of said pages and said cover attaching strips together.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of an open check book constructed in accordance with my invention with the cover attached illustrating the type of progressive hinge formed by my invention.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a check book constructed in accordance with my invention open near the center thereof illustrating the amount that the printed matter is spaced from the hinge line at the center portion thereof.

Fig. 11 is a perspective View of a check book constructed in accordance with my invention illustrating the amount that the printed matter is spaced from the hinge line adjacent the top thereof.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout, 2O generally indicates a check book constructed in accordance with my invention. Said book includes a stack of superimposed preferably single sheets 22 and having the fiat rear edge 24 and the flat front edge 26 and each sheet having a hinge 28 displaced from said flat rear edge 24 thereof with the distance of the displacement of said respective hinges 28 increasing progressively from the top 30 and bottom 32 of said book towards the center 34 of said book to form the desired arrangement of hinge lines 36. Said book may be provided also with a cover 38 if desired. If desired as shown in Figs. 10 and 11 said sheets 22 may have the printed matter 40 thereon, in the preferred embodiment shown including the check stub portions 42 and check proper portions 44 each having the printed matter 40 thereon, each check portion 44 being separated from its respecand bottom thereof reversely in proportion to the amounts that said hinge line 28 of each page is respectively spaced from the flat rear edge 24 of said book.

To manufacture said book, I first preferably form said superimposed single sheets 22 into a stack 20 having a fiat rear edge 24 perpendicular to the sheets and having a front edge curved or shaped reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines 28 prior to creasing. While this may be done in any suitable manner, I preferably as shown in Fig. 5 abut the front edge 26 of said stack of sheets with jogging edge shaped reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines 28 to relatively shift said sheets 22 to form the projection 56 on the rear edge 24 of said book parallel to the recession 60 formed on the front edge 26 thereof. While the sheets may be shifted or jogged in any suitable manner I have shown in Fig. 3 a suitable tool for this purpose, which consists preferably of a fiat block of material 58 having a front jogging convex edge 55 of substantially the desired thickness of said book and the rigid leaves 61 and 62 secured to each side of said block 58, the leaf 62 being longer than the leaf 60 so that said jogging tool may be more readily inserted over said stacked sheets 22. The tool 58 is thus as shown in Fig. 5 brought to bear against the front edge 26 of said stacked sheets 22, stacked as at 20 to form the projection 56 on the rear edge of said stack of sheets parallel to the recession 60 formed on the front edge thereof and as also illustrated in Fig. 5 the next step in my process consists in cutting off said projection 56 to form again the fiat edge 24 on the rear edge of said stack of sheets perpendicular to the plane of said sheets 22.

It is apparent then as shown in Fig. 6 that my improved stack 20 of sheets 22 has the flat rear edge 24 perpendicular to the plane of said sheets 22 and such being the case may be readily folded by hand with the hinges 28 spaced equi-distantly from the rear end of each sheet or said hinges 28 may be readily formed in a folding machine by passing the sheets through a folding machine set to form an even arrangement of hinge lines throughout the passage of said stack 20 therethrough, the same being reversed as passed through the folding machine or, as each is folded, in order that the sheets may remain in rotation. The next step in my improved method consists as shown in Fig. 7 of abutting the front then angular arcuately curved edge 26 of said stack of sheets with a flat jogging edge 64 to form again a flat edge 26 on the front end thereof perpendicular to the plane of said sheets, and to shift the sheets to form the angular hinge line 36 into its desired V-shaped (as shown in Fig. 1) or in rounded formation (as shown in Fig. 2) of the progressive hinge and incidently forming the projections 66 near each end of the rear edge 24" thereof. I then as also shown in Fig. '7 suitably trim the rear edge 24" of said book to cut off said projections 66 and to reform the flat edge 24 parallel to the then flat front edge 26 and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets. The stack 20 of sheets 22 may then if it is desired to form a check book be cut with the desired scorings 46 and 48 and the entire stack 20 may then be passed through a printing machine to print the printed matter 40 of equal length thereon from a substantially equally long type to form substantially equally long printed matter 40 on each page 22 thereof and spacing the inner edge 54 of said printed matter from said progressive arrangement of hinge lines 36 in amounts 52 varying in length from the center of said book as shown in Fig. 10 to the top and bottom thereof as shown in Fig. 11 substantially reversely in proportion to the amounts that the respective hinge 28 of each respective sheet 22 is respectively spaced from the flat rear edges 24 of each respective sheet and book. If it is then desired to bind the book a simple method of binding consists of placing a cover attaching strip 68 5 cutting off said projection to form a flat edge on '1 rear edge of said book, and the distance projecting inwardly from the top and bottom of the book near the rear edge thereof and suitably stapling as at '70 or otherwise to connect said rear ends of said pages and said hinge strips 68 together. Then as shown in Fig. 9 the inner surfaces 72 of said rearwardly projecting cover attaching strips 68 may be suitably attached to the cover leaves '74.

t is thus obvious that I have provided a novel type of flat opening bookwhich maybe constructed of sheets economically evenly creased from the flat rear edge of a stack of sheets to form hinges 28, superimposed upon each other and with the pages relatively jogged and trimmed to form a book having a fiat rear edge 24 and a hat front edge 26 with the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top 30 and bottom 32 of said book towards the center 34 there-. of to form the V-shaped or curved arrangement of hinge lines 36; If it isdesired to vary the V-shape of the hinge line shown in the drawings to a circular rounded convex shape shown in Fig. 2 it is obvious that the rounded jogging surface of said jogging tool 58 is correspondingly shaped. It is also apparent that I have provided a fiat opening book employing a so-called type of progressive hinge in which the printed matter may be substantially equally spaced from the front edge 26 of said book and leaving blank spaces at the rear edge of said printing matter varying in length in amounts from said hinge lines from the center of said book to the top and bottom thereof reversely in proportion to the amounts that said hinge lines 28 are respectively spaced from the flat rearedge 24 thereof, and it is thus obvious that I have provided a method which at first hand seems to achieve the impossible, namely of providing a book with a socalled type of progressive hinge and having a fiat Z'front edge and a flat rear edge from sheets of material which of themselves are provided in quantity with hinge lines spaced equi-distantly from the then rear edges thereof and one, which thus may have matter imprinted thereon in the 'l usual manner so as to have the printing of even length and evenly distributed from the front edge of said book.

When referring to the front and rear edges of the book as being flat I refer to the shape that 11 the stack of sheets assume prior to binding, it

being realized that after binding the front edge of a book sometimes assumes a slightly arcuate set and I employ the word flat to include either exactly flat or having the inherent arcuate con- :11 caved set inherent in some types of binding.

It is understood that my invention is not limited to the specific embodiments shown or method described and that various deviations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope '1 of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superimposed sheets each having a hinge spaced from the flat of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a flat front edge, which comprises abutting the front edge of a stack of sheets with a l rounded arcuate jogging edge curved reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines to relatively shift said sheets to form a projection on the rear edge of said stack of sheets parallel to the recession formed on the front edge thereof,

front edge of said stack of sheets witha rlat' jogging edge to form a flat edge on the front end thereof and to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said stack of sheets, cutting off said projections to form a flat rear edge parallel to the flat front edge thereof and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets and printing said stack of sheets along lines spaced equi-distantly from the front edges of said sheets with substantially equally long printed matter to space the inner edges of said printed matter on said sheets from said hinges in amounts varying in length from the center of said stack of sheets to the top and bottom thereof reversely in proportion to the amount that said respective hinges are respectively spaced from the flat rear edge thereof.

2. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superposed sheets, each having a hinge spaced from the flat rear edge of said book, and the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a flat front edge, which comprises abutting the front edge of a stack of sheets with an arcuate jogging edge shaped reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines to relatively shift said sheets to form a projection on the rear edge of said stack of sheets parallel to the recession formed on the front edge thereof, cutting off said projection to form a flat edge on the rear of said stack of sheets perpendicular to the plane of said sheets, creasing said sheets on lines spaced equi-distantly from the then even rear edges thereof to form hinges, abutting the front edge of said stack of sheets with a flat jogging edge to form a flat edge on the front end thereof and to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said stack of sheets and cutting oif said projections to form a flat rear edge parallel to the flat front edge thereof and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets.

3. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superposed sheets each having a hinge spaced from the flat rear edge of said book, and the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a fiat front edge which comprises abutting the front edge of a stack of sheets with a jogging edge shaped to relatively shift said sheets to form a projection on the rear edge of said stack of sheets parallel to the recession formed on the front edge thereof, cutting off said projection to form a flat edge on the rear of said stack of sheets perpendicular to the plane of said sheets, creasing said sheets on lines spaced equi-distantly from the then even rear edges thereof to form hinges abutting the front edge of said stack of sheets with a flat jogging edge to form a flat edge on the front end thereof, and to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said stack of sheets and cutting off said projections to form a fiat rear edge parallel to the flat front edge thereof and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets.

4. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superposed sheets each having a hinge spaced from the flat rear edge of said book, and the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a flat front edge, which comprises forming said sheets into a stack having a flat rear edge perpendicular to the sheets and having a front edge arranged reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines, creasing said sheets on lines spaced equi-distantly from the then even rear edges thereof to form hinges, abutting the front edge of said stack of sheets with a fiat jogging edge to form a fiat edge on the front end thereof, and to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said stack of sheets, cutting off said projections to form a flat edge parallel to the flat front edge thereof and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets and printing said stack of sheets along lines spaced equi-distantly from the front edges of said sheets with substantially equally long printed matter to space the inner edges of said printed matter from said respective hinges in amounts varying in length from the center of said stack of sheets to the top and bottom thereof reversely in proportion to the amount that said respective hinges are respectively spaced from the flat rear edge of said stack of sheets.

5. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superposed sheets each having a hinge spaced from the flat rear edge of said book, and the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a flat front edge which comprises forming said sheets into a stack having a flat rear edge perpendicular to the sheets and having a front edge arranged reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines, creasing said sheets on lines spaced equi-distantly from the then even rear edges thereof to form hinges, abutting the front edge of said stack of sheets with a flat jogging edge to form a flat edge on the front end thereof to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said back and cutting off said projections to form a fiat edge parallel to the flat front edge thereof and perpendicular to the plane of said sheets.

6. The steps in the method of making a flat opening book having a stack of superposed single sheets, each having a hinge spaced from the flat rear edge of said book and the distance of the hinges increasing progressively from the top and bottom toward the center of said book, said book having a flat front edge which comprises forming said sheets into a stack having a fiat rear edge perpendicular to the sheets and having a front edge arranged reversely to the desired arrangement of hinge lines, creasing said sheets on lines spaced equi-distantly from the then even rear edges thereof to form hinges, abutting the front edge of said stack of sheets with a fiat jogging edge to form a fiat edge on the front end thereof to shift the sheets to the desired arrangement of hinge lines and forming projections near each side of the rear edge of said back and cutting off said projections to form a flat edge parallel to the fiat front edge thereof and per- 

